Behavior
Perceived Stress as a Mediator in the Relationship Between Daily Movement Behaviors and Psychological Distress in College Students During COVID-19 Marcus Vinicius Nascimento-Ferreira* Marcus Vinicius Nascimento-Ferreira Maria Isabela Alves de Almeida Silva Ana Clara Arrais Rosa Marina Lira da Silva Armando Rodrigues de Alencar Santos Luiz Fernando de Oliveira Barbosa Shirley Cunha Feuerstein Kliver Antonio Marin Maira Tristão Parra Erika da Silva Maciel Ethan T. Hunt Augusto César F. De Moraes
Objective: To investigate the mediating effect of perceived stress on the association between 24-hour movement behavior (physical activity, sedentary behavior, and sleep) and psychological distress in college students during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Methodology: This study is a part of the 24-hour movement behavior and metabolic syndrome (24h-MESYN) cohort study. We examined 195 college students from Imperatriz, MA, Brazil (Gini Index: 0.56). Most participants (68.7%) were female, 44.6% aged 21-25, 65.8% studied health sciences, and 24.5% were in early semesters. We assessed physical activity, sedentary behavior, and sleep using the International Physical Activity Questionnaire-Short Form, South American Youth Cardiovascular and Environmental Sedentary Behavior Questionnaire, and Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index. Perceived stress and psychological distress were measured with the Perceived Stress Scale and Brief Symptom Inventory. We considered the following confounding variables: biological sex, age, ethnicity, maternal education, degree program, shift, time, enrolled classes, and daily study hours. Our analysis applied structural equation modeling with bootstrapping.
Results: We identified a negative association between perceived stress and both physical activity (β: -0.012 [CI95%: -0.025 to -0.002]) and a positive association with psychological distress (β: 1.088 [CI95%: 0.910 to 1.273]). A significant total effect (β: -0.022 [CI95%: -0.038 to -0.006]) and indirect effect (β: -0.014 [CI95%: -0.027 to -0.001]) were observed, while the direct effect (β: -0.008 [CI95%: -0.024 to 0.006]) was not significant. Mediation accounted for 60.2% of the total effect. No mediated effects were found for sedentary behavior or sleep duration.
Conclusion: Perceived stress played a mediating role in linking physical activity to psychological distress. These findings highlight the potential effect of managing physical activity levels on perceived stress and offer insights into promising strategies for alleviating psychological distress.